Warbotron WB01A Air Burst - Pictorial Review

This figure isn't new, I missed the boat to do an early review of him and now even the 2nd figure of this set is about to be released.

Pic Credit : TFWiki

A member of a rather popular combiner, Bruticus, Blast Off is one of those bot that prefer to be alone than with company, your average devil-may-care Transformers. Suiting his alt mode, Blast Off prefer to spend his time orbiting far above the earth, scouting through the void and looking for target.

Many might remember the G1 episode, Starscream's Brigade where Blast Off and his team, reduced to personality components during their imprisonment, were liberated by Starscream and installed into abandoned World War II military vehicles (Blast Off in particular changed the B-17 bomber into a space shuttle).



In Package

Before we start, just a little background story. Warbotron is basically a new company (was in Facebook as Botron War before) that surprises the fans with a prototype of the Not-Combaticons. 90% of the fans had a seizure while the remaining 10% don't have internet connection.

Next on their to-do list is WB02 Not-Menasor.

The design and quality of the box is impressive! The front of the outer box have black and white artwork of both Air Burst and Not-Bruticus.

Back View

On the back is a portion of the artwork that can be found in the comic book. Though I'm not sure it's part of a bigger artwork this is just it. Another thing I would like to add is the outer box has a glossy surface, kind of hard to take picture without having your reflection on it.

The inner box has an even better quality, roughly the same as MMC's Feralcons. The design is quite like Fansproject Causality in a way but with richer colors.

Back View

The back of the box is even harder to take picture of, reflecting the light I use in the photo shoot.

Box size comparison with TFC Gumball

Despite the size of the box, Air Burst doesn't really have a lot of accessories, not even the combiner fist. Aside from the figure, he comes with a tech spec and a comic book/instruction manual.

Tech Spec

Comic Book/Instruction Manual

The illustration style of the comic books differs from all Transformers/3rd Pary Figures comic books I had ever seen.

Alt Mode

I've got to say, the quality surprises me. Considering that Air Burst is their first release, their offering is hard to say NO to. The transformation between mode is quite straight forward.

Air Burst captures the aesthetic of G1 Blast Off while having a modern design, quite a nice touch.

The detailing are well done with top-notch paint apps. However, most of the parts are colored plastic so it's a given. On ground, the guns are recommended to be attached elsewhere, not under the wings.

Clear glass on the cockpit

Totally beautiful

Air Burst scaled nicely with TFC Phantom which works for me.

Despite being a bit shorter, Air Burst have more mass and weight compared to Phantom (and the rest of TFC Uranos members)

One problem that I had and would like to remind you guys to be careful is the landing gears. They are hold by some sort of C-Clips which easily stress out. One of mine already loose and the landing gear tend to fall off.

Aerial Combat

Robot Mode

Air Burst robot mode came out nicely, capturing the G1 aesthetic of Blast Off. The detailing are awesome, admire how much work being put on the design.

The head sculpt is as G1 as it can be.

Side View

Back View

This might be a small issue but the nosecone kind of just hang there without being able to peg anywhere.

The arm blasters can be store behind the legs for storage

Air Burst have a pretty decent articulations. He comes with a ball jointed head, swivel and hinge on the shoulders, hinge on the elbow, wrist swivels, waist swivel, universal and swivel joints on the thighs, ratcheting knees, ball joints and swivel on the feet.

However, the shoulder pads which are attached to ball joints kind of hinder his shoulders movement.

Despite that, Air Burst can do so many awesome poses!

Articulated fingers

Compared to TFC Phantom, Air Burst is almost half a head taller. Combiner team wise, Air Burst scaled better with MMC Feralcons than TFC combiner teams.

Personally for me, the release of Prometheus excites me more because of the release of Air Burst. Can't wait to have my Not-Bruticus fighting with Not-Defensor.

The bot that broke Gumball

Combiner Mode

The combine mode kind of the most disappointing of all three. The transformation is simple and kind of feel 'incomplete' with Air Burst hands just hang to the side.

Unlike TFC and MMC combiners, Air Burst have the male connector instead of the female connector. I might be wrong here but I think the same connector was used by Maketoys Giant.

The length of the hand is roughly the same as Phantom's

I know there's a lot of photoshopped size comparison made online but I think Not-Bruticus will not be too big compared to TFC Uranos.

 There aren't many 3rd party companies that able to surprised me with their first offering like Warbotron did. Last I was this satisfied with a debut release was with Planet X Genesis. This might just be a speculation, aside from the quality, Air Burst kind of remind me of a TFC figure with the way it transform and the design. Not to mention that Warbotron releases (Not-Bruticus and Not-Menasor) compliment what TFC haven't done yet. We'll see whether WB03 will be either Superion, Devastator, Defensor or Predaking, OR the other 2 (Abominus or Computron).

Again, this is just my personal opinion